And keocess tob eenewiwu same



Sept. 6, 1932. N' 1,876,482

RENEWED SWITCH POINT RAIL AND PROCESS FOR RENEWING SAME Filed Nov. 4,1929 2 Sheets -Sl 1eet 1 I INVENTOR.

' ATTORNE.

' Q 5, 1932- v R. B. ALFONTE 1.876,482

RENEWED SW ITGH POINT RAIL AND PROCESS FOR RENEWING SAME Filed Nov. 4,1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 12' n INVENTQR.

' li'oberffijfiaizi'e,

' g I ATTORNEY.

Patented Sept 6, 1932 UNITED STATES PATEN orrlcr aoenntr BJAIJFOE'TE,orcmcneo, rumors, ASSIGNOR r0 LOUISVILLE mws, SWI'M'H am; SIGNAL co, orLOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY RENEWED SWiTZCH T Bil-IL .LND' ZBQCESS 10R BENEWINGApplication 1115.4 Member 4, 1929. Serial no. 404,749.

This invention relates to a method er; reclaiming worn, damaged ormpaired switch point rails, andthe invention has for its 010- ject toreclaim, in 'a manner-hereinafter set forth, a worn, damaged. orimpaired switch point rail whereby the point of the rail, after thelatter is reclaimed or repaired, will be of greater durability than thatQf the Switch point rail in its original state, or as renewed by anyother process. I I a v A further object ofthe invention resides in thereclaiming of a worn, damaged or impaired switch point rail by combiningthere with, at the pointed end thereof, a portion of an old, worn trackrail which results in a product that is stronger, tougher and moredurable than .avnewswitch point rail or a switch point rail that hasbeen reclaim d by P forming a new. point thereof-with newflmaterial, asdistinguished from a point made from a reclaimed, old, worn track rail."Further,

I the reclaiming of worn, damaged or'impaired switch point rails undermy method produces an unusually satisfactory rail at a material decreasein expense withrespect to the eost of a new switch point rail'due to thefact that the impaired rail is not discarded and further due to the,fact of utilizing a part of an old worn track rail to form the renewedpoint instead of employing new material.

A further object of the invention resides in the reclaiming of Worn,damaged Q1 impaired switch point rails in a manner as hereinafter setforth and whichis so carried outthat the operation of reclaiming is hadata materially less cost thanvthe mannerfin which thereclaiming is nowperformed..-

With the foregoing and other objects in view the inventionconsists ofthe novel steps of the method and product derived therep method whichfall withinthe scope-of the claims'hereunto appended. II I In thedrawings wherein like reterence jbar acters. denote corresponding partsthroughout the several vie Figure l is a fragmentary view in sideelevation of a worn, damaged or impaired switch pointfrail illustratingthe appearance thereof after the worn, damaged or impaired pointed endportion has'been out out for repairing to reclaim the rail. Figure 2 isa View similar to Figure 1 and iurther showing'the filler part out froman old, Worn track rail preliminary to being welded to the cutout endportion of a switch poi rail.-

Figure 3 is .a side elevation of the structure shown in Figure 2. I I

Figure 4 is a section on line 4-4, Figure 1. "Figure 5 is a sectionalView showing the f ortion' of anold, worn track rail cut to provide thefiller part, and with the remaining portion of the track rail from whichthe filler part has been cutshown in dotted lines.

Figure 6 is a section on line ,6--.6, Figure 2. Figure 7 isa verticalsectional view illustrating the reclaimed rail at the switch point endthereof. V I Figure '8 is a vertical sectional view of the reclaimedswitch point rail showing its position relative to atrack rail.

Figure 9 is a top plan view of the structure shown in Figure 3' andfurther illustrating I I Figure '10 is a top plan View of a trackrailshowing associated therewith a reclaimed switch point rail inaccordance with this invention, and with the rail having a portionthereof fragmentarily illustrated.

The worn, damaged or impaired switch oint rail which is to be reclaimedis indiQazted at 12, and itsweb, head, full sized base flange andreduced portion of the other base flange at the pointed end of the railare indicated by numerais13, 14, 15 and 16, respectively.

The header tread portion 14 at the switch point end of rail 12 isremoved. The. upper of part of the web 13 at the switch point en thera'illQ is also removed. The distance of the removal is as desired,preferably from '30 to 48 inchesi'back from the pointed end porof thehead or tread portion 14 of the switch point rail 12 is made to providethe cutaway end of head 14 with a beveled edge 20 forming a continuationof and corresponding to the edge 17. i .Positioned upon and registeringwith the edge 17 of the web 13 is a filler part or insert 22 for the.cutout portion of the rail 12. The filler part 22 is T-shaped in crosssection and includes a head 23.and a stem 24. The stem 24 is disposedcentrally with respect to head 23. The filler part 22 is cut from anold, worn track rail. The head 23 and stem 24 of the filler part22 areparts of the head and web of the old track rail. The bottom edge of stem24 is beveled as indicated at 25 but the bevel is oppositely disposedwith respect to the bevel of edge 17. The longitudinal configurationof-the bottom of stem 24fis such as to register with the longitudinalconfiguration of thecutout end of theswitch point rail being renewed.When the lower, edge of filler part 22 is mounted upon the upper edge 17of theswitch point rail, the head 23 of the filler part 22 is arrangedin crude alignment with head 14 of rail 12. As head 14 of rail 12 hasbeen reduced in width to provide rail 12 with a tapered end portion itnecessarily follows that the width of head 23 which is normal, will beof greater'width than head 14 as indicated in Figure 2.. The thicknessof stem 24 corresponds to the thickness of web 13. As the bevel ofthe'bottom edge of the'stem 24 extends in an opposite direction withrespect to the bevel of the [edge 17 of web 13, their superposedposition preliminary to welding provides a V-shaped groove 26 which isof a length co-extensive with the length of the stem 24. That end of thehead 23 which opposes the bevel end 20 of head 14 is beveled; and formsa continuation of and corresponds to the bevel 25 on the bottom edge ofstem 24. The beveled ends of the heads provide a continuation of the:groove,' as at 28..

I The edge 17 of the rail 12 provides a bevel ,face:having an upper anda lower edge. The edge 25 of. the filler part provides a bevel facehaving an upper and a lower edge opposing respectively the lower andupper edge .of thebevel face provided by edge 17 of the rail 12. Theopposed edges of the heads 14 :and 23 provide oppositely extending,beveled faces having side edges. One side edge of the bevel face on head14 abuts one side edge of the bevel face on head 23 and the other sideedges of said faces are spaced from each other. One of the abutting sideedges of the bevel faces on the heads forms continuations of the topedge of the bevel face provided by edge 17 of rail 12, and the otherabutting side edge forms a continuation of the bottom edge of the bevelface provided'by "edge 25 of filler part.

-Thecutting of the bevel on the rails 12' and filler partor insert 22 ishad by means of a torch and then grinding smooth with a gri-nding'wheel.-The object is to provide a space of sufficient width between theopposed portions of rail 12 and filler part 22, to receive the requiredamount of. metal from a welding'rod to form a'solid union. The amount ofthe metal being such as to completely fill such space.

ture for a period of from forty-five to sixty minutes, after which thetemperature within the furnace is reduced to an extent to practically'coolth'e parts. The temperature within the furnace is then again raisedto 1500 The inserts or fillersfor reclaiming switch F., at which pointthe heat is cut off and the parts allowed to gradually cool such anextent to enable them to be handled with the gloved hand- The furnaceduring the heat treating process aforesaid is maintained air tight. v

When these inserts are autogenously welcl ed in placethey are given aspecial heat treatment by using a 'carbonizing flame which increases thecarbon content and increases the hardness of the material.

The treatments considerably increase the wearing qualities of theinsertsor fillers and play a very important part in making the inserts orfillers more'resistant to Wear than the original metal from which theswitch parts werejmade,

Experiments have proven that an old used track rail has lost itstoughness and instead ment a soproduces a metal that is far tougher andfar moredurable to withstand the ,hard -usageto whic'h'a switch point isput,

than is 'a switch point of new bar meta-l;

ile

As-to why the foregoing is true, as borne out by numerous experiments,is not shown. One theory is that the'cons'tant pounding on an old andworn track rail has tended to shatter the molecules or grain or fibre asit might be called of the metal: At the'same time the constant poundingin use has tended to harden and make this metal more compact than it waswhen new. The bad characteris tics of an old worn track rail are thatdue to usage, it also becomes more-brittle and lessdurable' and lesstough than new bar stock would be. I 1 i Furthermore the old metal doesnot plane in a manner tomake it adaptable for use for renewingswitchpoints, except when it is subjected to the heat treating processoutlined herein and which is necessary for reclaiming worn out switchpoint rails and utilizing for that purpose old track rails that would.otherwise be nothing more than scrap. 7

Furthermore, the utilization of these waste products under my processproduces a switch point rail that is far more durable than even anabsolutely new switch point rail.

. 1V hen the filler part, treated in a manner as aforesaid is to beattached to the rail, the lowermost corner of the filler part, whichwould be the bottom edge of its beveled face, is positioned upon theuppermost corner of the web of the rail, such uppermostcorner being thetop edge of the beveled face of'the rail. WV hen the filler part isarranged in the manner as stated, one side of the beveled face on thehead thereof abuts the opposingside of the beveled. face, on the head ofthe rail. The positioning of the filler part, with respect to therail-inthe manner asstated provides the V-groove or space to receive themetal from the welding rod. VVh'en the filler part and rail are arrangedrelatively to each other as'aforesaid, they are clamped in'that pOSltion and electrically welded with a welding rod to fill the V grooveformed by the opposed beveled faces. After the welding operationthe-switch point rail 12 appears in plan as shown in Figure, 9, withtheexception that the groove'28 will be completely filled with metal fromthe welding rod. i

it now becomes necessary to plane down the filler part 22 until it isshaped as indicated by the dot and dash lines'D in Figure 9. After thefiller part 22 has been planed the switch point of rail 12 will appearin plan as shown in Figure 10 and in cross section as shown in Figures 7and 8.

The result of t-heforegoing method is to produce a switch point rail,which has substantially the same appearance "as a new switch point-rail, but which is stronger,

, tougher and more durable than a newswitch point rail or a switch pointrail that has been reclaimed by forming a new point thereon with new barmaterial as distinguished from point made from ranold used rail.

which is provided by the Welding bar is indicated at E,'Figure 10. I

The rail when completed is a composite one formed ofa pairof parts and afilling integralwith .said par-ts. The pair of parts being so formed andarranged relatively to each other to provide a single V-groove openingat one side and closed to theother side of the rail, the filling beingcoextensive with and completely filling the groove.

It will be understood of course that my invention does not limit me tothe use .of this method and process merely for the reclaiming of switchpoint rails, but that the same process may also be used in connectionwith renewing frog points orv other metal parts of machinery and thelike that is subjected to extreme wear and tear, by providing suchwearing parts with a renewed wearing surface far more durable than theoriginal new stock. Y

It must also be borne in mind that if desired, the same result might beaccomplished by subjecting new stock to a hammering or poundingprocess'substantially identical with that to which an old track rail hasbeen subjected and thereafter submitting the same to the heat treatment,cooling, and welding process to accomplish a result similar to thataccomplished by the use of scrap railway rails, andthat this would notbe a departure from my invention.

What I claim is 1. In combination, a switch point rail having itstapered portion cut out for a part of its length to provide a recesshaving a bottom wall and a curved end-wall, the latter merging into theformer and a beveled surface bordering said cutout, a switch point partpositioned in said cutout and having a beveled surface arranged oversaid other surface and coacting with the latter to provide a singleV-groove, and a welding filler positioned in said groove and beingwelded to the walls of the latter. I i

2. A composite switch point rail comprising a unitary structure formedof a pair of parts and a filling integral with said parts, one ofsaidparts being of greater length than the other and having a portion of oneend isa cut out and providing with a beveled face bordering the cutout,the other of said parts forming a switch point positioned in said cutoutand having a beveled face arranged over the said other beveled face,said beveled faces extending in-opposite directions with respect to eachother and coactingto provide a V-groove coextensive with said switehpoint part, said groove opening at one side and closed at the other sideof the rail, and said filling coextensive with and arranged in saidgroove.

5 3. In combination, a switch point rail having its tapered portionreduced in height for a part of its length, said reduced portionterminating in an upwardly curved part and formed with a bevelled edge,a part of a used track rail having an edge reversely bevelled withrespect to the first mentioned edge and shaped to register with thereduced portion of the switch point rail, said opposed edges coacting toprovide a substantially triangular groove, a welding filler for saidgroove, said edges and filler being welded together, and said part ofthe used track rail being shaped to a point for the switch ioint rail.

4-. A point-rail comprising, as an element thereof, a point-rail propercontaining a recess in the upper portion thereof of its pointed end forreceiving a separate point section, the end wall of said recess beingcurved and merging into the bottom wall of said recess.

5. In combination, a point rail proper having a recess in the upperportion of its pointed end formed with a bottom wall and a curved endwall merging into the bottom wall, and a switch point part conforming incontour to the shape of the recess, seated on the latter and welded tosaid walls.

6. In combination, a switch point rail having its tapered portion cutoutfor a part of its length, the edge of the cutout being beveled, a switchpoint part positioned in said cutout and having a beveled edge opposingthe beveled edge of the cutout, the bevel edges extending away from eachother to provide a groove opening at the corresponding sides of saidrail and part, and a welding filler completely filling said groove andwelded to the walls of the latter.

7. In combination, a switch point rail having a recess in the upperportion of its pointed end formed with an end and a bottom wall, the endwall being curved and mergin into said bottom wall, a switch point partconforming in contour to the shape of and seated in said recess, saidpart and walls having coacting means to provide a groove ope ing atcorresponding sides of said rail and part, and a welding filler withinsaid groove and welded to said coacting means.

8. A point rail comprising, as an element thereof, an insertconstitutingv a separate point section for a recessed part of the pointrail proper, said insert having an end edge portion and a bottom edgeportion, said end edge portion being curved and merging into said bottomedge portion.

9. In. combination, a point rail proper having a recess in the upperportion of its pointed end formed with a beveled bottom wall and abeveled curved end wall merging into the bottom wall, and a switch pointpart conforming in contour to the shape of the recess, seated on thelatter and welded to said walls, the said part having edge portionsbeveled, the bevel being continuous and extending upwardly from theinner to the outer sides of the insert.

10. A point rail comprising in combination, a point rail proper, and aseparate point section mounted therein, said point rail proper and pointsection having coacting means to provide a V-groove opening atcorresponding sides of the point rail proper and said section, and awelding filler completely filling the groove and welded to the walls ofthe latter.

11. A point rail comprising in combination, a point rail proper, and aseparate point sec tion mounted therein, said point rail proper andpoint section having coacting means to provide a V-groove opening atcorresponding sides of the point rail proper and said section, and awelding filler completely filling the groove and welded to the walls ofthe latter, said groove formed of a stretch disposed lengthwise withrespect to the point rail proper and section and an upwardly extendingcurved stretch merging at its lower end into the inner end of said otherstretch.

12. A point rail comprising a recessed point rail proper, and a separatepoint section mounted in the recessed portion of the point rail proper,said section and point rail having coacting means to provide a grooveopening at corresponding sides of the point rail proper and formed of astretch disposed longitudinally with respect to the point rail properand section and a stretch leading upwardly from the inner end of theother stretch, and a filler for and welded to the walls of said grooves.

13. A point rail comprising in combination, a point rail proper having arecess formed with abottom wall and an upstanding inner end wall, saidbottom wall inclining downwardly from the inner to the outer side ofsaid pointrail proper and said end wall inclining in a rearwarddirection from the inner to the outer side of said point rail proper,and a separate point section having a bottom edge portion and an innerend edge portion, said bottom edge portion inclining upwardly from theinner to the outer side of said section and said inner edge portioninclining forwardly from the inner to the outer side of said section,said walls and edge portions coacting to provide a V-groove opening atthe inner side of the point rail, and a filler for said groove welded tothe walls thereof whereby the point rail proper and point section aresecured together.

14. A renewed switch point rail comprising in combination, a used switchpoint rail having a recess at one end terminal thereof formed solelywith a bottom wall and an inner end wall, and a switch point sectionformed of a heat treated, tapered portion of a used track rail, saidsection having a bottom edge, an outer end edge and an inner end edge,said section positioned in said recess, the said bottom edge, inner endedge, bottom wall and inner end wall being so formed and coacting toprovide a groove opening at the corresponding sides of said used switchpoint rail and section, and a filling within and welded to the walls ofthe groove for connecting the section and used switch point railtogether to form the renewed switch point rail.

15. A renewed switch point rail having a wearing point consisting of aheat treated part of a used track rail, said part having a bottom edgeand an upwardly extending,

' curved inner end edge.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature hereto.

ROBERT B. ALFONTE.

